


One Last Gift

by SerDinnerRoll



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, M/M, merry crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28143540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerDinnerRoll/pseuds/SerDinnerRoll
Summary: It is the night before Yule and Sam is setting up for Elanor's first celebration of it. But while laying out the presents he finds one for himself...
Relationships: Frodo Baggins/Sam Gamgee, Rose Cotton/Sam Gamgee
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	One Last Gift

**Author's Note:**

> This blurb is dedicated to my discord who I hurt too much with my angst but put up with me anyway.

It was a quiet night in Bag End. Rosie had put Elanor to bed and the two had sipped hot cider while watching the snow fall over Hobbiton like powdered sugar over a pastry. Rosie was so beautiful in the soft candlelight from the tree that half the time he simply looked at her. Finally, with a yawn, she kissed him goodnight and retired to bed after getting a promise from him that he would soon be behind her.

He waited an hour or so to ensure she was fast asleep before he made his way to the pantry and began to take out the presents he had hidden behind a crate of potatoes. 

He was particularly proud of himself for the presents he had gotten this year. With the wars in the east finally settled, there was more dwarven traffic than ever, passing through the Shire. For Rosie he had purchased a beautiful necklace with five blue sapphires set into pearl petals to make the fairest of flowers. And for little Elanor, a small wind up toy from Dale of a small bluejay that would peck about, hop, and even flutter around the room in a circle. 

Quickly and quietly, he began to set the presents under the tree along with gifts for the rest of the Gamgee and Cotton families who would be arriving the next evening. This would be his last quiet night for a week at the least. Content with the placement of the presents (feeling even Grandfather Yule could not do better), he went to the Foreyule Keeper where it sat on the side table beside the fireplace.

The Keeper was a hobbit tradition for the entire month of Foreyule, counting down the days to the celebration of Yuletide. Often a simple wooden box established to look like a calendar with each day having a door, the children of the household would often open the doors on the given days to find a small treat or toy waiting for them. 

In his meager childhood, Sam happily recalled him and his siblings finding candied almonds. But the Baggins’ well… the Baggins’ had a bit more flair. Bungo Baggins had a decent sized wooden sculpture depicting Hobbiton and the Hill carved up, with each small hobbit hole door decorated with a single gold letter. On they went, starting with the Ivy Bush as the first door, all the way up the hill (Number #3 Bagshot Row being the 29th) to end at the green door of Bag End, bedecked with a rather splendid 30. 

Frodo had regaled him and Rosie with stories of the presents Bilbo would hide within. A favorite of the old hobbit was to put a small firework from Gandalf that would go off with a pop when the door was opened, often picking a different door to hide it behind each year. It had made Frodo so nervous to open the doors every year but the rewards were often worth it, with all sorts of toys and candies stored in the other ones the elder Baggins was afforded a small prank now and again.

The previous years, Frodo had tucked away small bottles of wine, sherry, brandy, and whisky for him, Sam and Rosie. Every night they would finish up the day, sipping the tipsy delights, talking together, and cuddling against the cold outside.

No, it had been Sam’s turn to fill the Keeper for his little Elanor. And tonight would be the greatest of them all. The miniature door of Bag End was the biggest of them all and so he would fill it to the brim. Candied nuts, caramels, raisins and one large orange from Gondor would all be placed inside for the squealing baby Elanor to find in the morning.

He gathered the small gifts and opened the small door… only to find something had already been placed within. Drawing it out, he found it ot be a folded up piece of parchment with _Sam_ written on it.

He knew that handwriting.

With a frantic hand he quickly unfolded it and began to read quietly to himself.

_My dear Sam,_

_As I write this I am already filled with regret that I will not see another Yule with you and Rosie. It pains me that I might not see little Elanor’s first Yule present or her joy at what waits in the Keeper. Yet… as much as it has brought me great joy to see you and the others savor the holiday, that is the only joy I can find in it. The cold has bitten harder and the nights have seemed darker. Every raucous cheer of celebration pains my ears and every ornament of gold only reminds me of that gold that has harmed me most._

_Yule has continued in the Shire as it always has. Yet I have changed too much._

_I will have long since been gone by the time you probably find this letter and no doubt our parting has caused you much grief since then. So I write this not to remind you of my absence but to ask that you look beyond it to what you have._

_I have said that so much of the world seems cold and empty to me, but it is not with you. My dearest Samwise, you are the very soul of the Shire, it’s hills and waters beat in your heart and its woods and fields bloom in your mind. In Mordor, when all about me was waste and destruction you were life and good cheer and love. Above all, love. And when the world about us is much like Mordor during Yule (though blessfully not as hot), dark and barren, I want you to find that same spark of love and life about you. Find it in Rosie and sweet Elanor. Find it in the Old Gaffer and Merry and Pippin. When you go to Annuminas to celebrate the New Year with Strider and the rest, see it in them._

_And I ask not that you do this just for yourself, as I know you have never been one to be selfish. So do it for me. Savor for me what has lost all flavor. Find all the delights you can in the Shire. Share the laughter with Strider and Legolas and Gimli that I could not find left. Take it all in, dear Sam. So you can tell me all about it when you return to me._

_This letter is my last command to you Sam. Not as your master. Nor as your friend. But as someone who loves you too much to see you feel sad about me when you should be enjoying life to the fullest. Go. Do so. Watch Elanor grow into a fine hobbit lass. Keep Pippin in check when Merry isn’t around and reminisce with them about the old days._

_It won’t be time wasted. I promise you._

_Till we meet again,_

_Frodo_

_P.S._

_When winter blows across the lands_

_With their cold dark sting_

_All it takes is a gardener’s hands_

_To welcome the call of spring_

* * *

Rosie woke up, though she could not explain why. It was dark in the bedroom and Sam’s place beside her was empty. Quickly throwing on her warm dressing gown she quietly padded out into the hall. All was dim, the only light coming from the doorway leading to the sitting room.

As she gently moved toward the light, she heard a noise. Soft, yet pronounced. It came in and out of hearing. The sound of someone sobbing. The sound of _Sam_ sobbing. Instinctually she quickened her pace to see what was wrong. She reached the doorway... but then she stopped.

Sam was sitting by the large round windows looking out over the snowy landscape. His shoulders seemed to shake with a rhythm of their own, his head pressed against the glass, a piece of parchment clutched in his hand. The sobs that ached out of him felt painful to Rosie… but not evil.

She saw, reflected in the glass, darkened by the night, tears running down her Sam’s face, but a smile on his lips. A pained smile but one that looked to have memories buried in it. 

_It is a good cry_ , she thought, _Long overdue._

She had known him to cry only about one person. His Frodo. She gave a soft smile of her own as she looked on at her husband and her eyes watered as well. For a moment she just watched him, a vision of sad beauty to her. Pain blended with happiness.

She did not stay long. This moment was not for her. It was for Sam and his memories. It was for them. It was for Samwise and his Frodo.


End file.
